More than a Diet

After competing in my last show I get all types of crazy questions and comments. “Lina, are you still going to work out?” or “Lina, why aren’t you eating normal, you have the body now ?” The best one I’ve gotten was, “So, Lina are you going to get off your diet now?” The answers to these questions are, yes, of course I’m always going to work out, I’ve always eaten “normal” (whatever that means), and I’m done with ‘competition dieting’, but I’m eating healthy.

The road that I’m choosing is a lifestyle choice. This lifestyle choice includes working out and making healthy food choices. Going to the gym isn’t punishment for me. I relish the time and I enjoy releasing my frustrations and emotions by throwing those weights around, doing sprints in 90 degree Florida heat, or taking a nice walk in the park. This lifestyle also includes choosing foods that help to nourish, fuel, and reenergize the body. Trust me; I use to eat whatever was cheap and “tasty.” Making those poor food choices lead to headaches, stomach issues, unwanted pounds, and poor self-esteem. The main reason I cling so tightly to this healthy lifestyle is because it just makes me feel better. I feel better emotionally, physically, spiritually, and mentally. The only time I need to be on a “diet” is when I’m ready to compete for a show. I don’t even like the word “diet.”

I know it’s hard for many of you to go to the gym consistently or pick healthier foods. I know because I use to battle with it for years. The turning point or my light bulb moment was when I realized that I had to adapt eating right and working out as a lifestyle. This could not be a Monday-Friday thing where I’m off on the weekends. To be fully successful at consistent, permanent and long-term weight loss you have to be fully accepting of the change you have to make. That’s what I did and that what worked well for me. I may enjoy a piece of cake on a special occasion and that is completely fine, you can do that. But if you’re tired of all the health problems, tired of the weight issues and tired of the self-esteem issues; You may want to think about adopting this as a lifestyle instead of just a diet because it’s way more than just that.

Training for Bigger Forearms

Training for Bigger Forearms

By: Sean Fitzgerald

Got string beans hanging from your elbows? Want to grow bigger forearms? Wrist curls not working? Stop doing wrist curls!! Ever take a look around the gym and pay attention to all the guys who do wrist curls? Not a single one has big forearms! So what does that tell you? Why do you keep doing them? Ever see a powerlifter with scrawny forearms? Neither have I. Forearm size is generally related to grip strength, of course there are exceptions to everything. But I can asure you that forearm size comes generally in proportion to upper arm size. Which does equate to how much weight you can hold in order to perform a bicep curl or a tricep extension. I have often been complimented on my forearm development and been asked how to build bigger forearms. Two exercises I prefer to do that most people forget or do not realize how important they can be due to variation. Hammer curls and reverse grip curls are great for hitting the forearms. The hammer curl forces you to focus more on grip strength and the rotation of the wrist on reverse grip curls forces more of top of the forearms to be recruited. The hammer curl also recruites muscles in the forearms that regular supine or palms up curls do not. Most people who do lots of palms up curls already have over developed inner forearms due to the rotation of the wrist. But without performing exercises that recruite the most muscles on the outer or top of the forearms causes lack of overall development and size. It’s like trying to build bigger upper arms by only performing curls for the biceps and not performing any exercises for the triceps. Both muscle groups create overall arms size, so why train one muclse group of the forearms and not the other? When performing reverse grip curls with a bar, I like to curl my wrists back a little more at the top of the movement for an added contraction. You will probably have to use about half the amount of weight you normally use when curling with palms up since you will be training muscles that do not get trained often. Try them out for a few months instead of wasting your time and energy on wrist curls. I’m confident you will be happy with the results!

Getting a Good Workout in Less Time

By: Sean Fitzgerald

Sometimes things pop up in our lives that require our attention and time. Time is a very precious commodity since it is the only thing we can never get back. Every second we waste is gone forever. So if you get held up late at work or other things come up in life that take away your time but you only have so much left for the gym, relax. I know I used to get stressed about having to cut out exercises or change my routines to accommodate lost time. Here is a very simple thing you can do to cut your gym time in half in some cases! You don’t have to do anything crazy or even change your routine or exercises. Simply rest 30 seconds between your working sets. That’s it! I always get a good warm up set and pick a weight I can do approximately 15 good reps with. I have a stop watch app on my cell phone which comes in handy. The moment I put the weight down, I start the stop watch on my phone. Once it hits 25 seconds, I stop/reset it, put the phone down and pickup the weight again. It seems to take about 5 seconds to do all that, that’s why I stop it at 25 seconds. My next working set, I have a target rep range of 12 reps. Rest another 30 seconds, then target 10 reps. Another 30 seconds and 8 reps. That’s 4 hard working sets done in just over 2 minutes instead of resting for 2 minutes between sets. If you have never done it, trust me, you’re in for a real surprise. That first set of 15 will feel pretty easy, and maybe even the second set of 10 won’t seem too bad. But if you chose your weight correctly, those last 2 sets will be killer! And the pump will be incredible without even killing your joints or doing 50 reps!

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The Benefits of Velvet Antler

The Benefits of Velvet Antler

By: Sean Fitzgerald

There are many products on the market touting to boost growth hormone levels. However, just because you have an elevation in growth hormone levels doesn’t always mean it’s going to equate to bigger and harder muscles. Growth hormone has be broken down and converted into IGF-1 to have a direct influence on muscle growth and strength. Most of that conversion occurs in the liver. If the liver is stressed and not functioning to its full potential, then the conversion rate will be less. Also the absorption of capsules, tablets or powders with ingredients to influence growth hormone stimulation depends on the health and function of a person’s digestive system. If a person has any symptom of improper digestion such as gas, bloating, heartburn, constipation or diarrhea it can greatly affect the absorption of nutrients and reduce the ability to absorb and use the nutrients to stimulate growth hormone. So with all these variables and more which can effect growth hormone production, how can we improve absorption or skip those hurdles?

Sublingual delivery of pure IGF -1 and related growth factors can directly improve recovery, increase strength and accelerate healing. Natural athletes rely on over the counter supplements to improve their performance. The richest source of naturally occurring IGF-1 comes from velvet antler extract from deer or elk. The antlers from these animals can grow up to an inch per day during the growth season. They are rich in growth factors including IGF-1 which makes them grow so rapidly. Velvet extract has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for over 2,000 years. It is also produced by a pharmaceutical company in Russia and used as a prescription for hospital patients to speed recovery.
IGF-1 is the only hormone produced in the body that has been shown to cause hyperplasia. Most hormones in the body cause increases in muscle strength and size by increasing muscle cell nuclei which increases the diameter of muscle cells. Hyperplasia actually creates new muscle cells to add muscle tissue. There can be a rapid increase in strength by increasing the number of muscle cells rather than just the size.
The most concentrated source of velvet extract and natural IGF-1 available on the market is produced by Pure Solutions. They were the first company to market and mass produce velvet antler extract to the United States. They take 43lbs of raw material and concentrate it down to 1lbs of extract to use in their products. They are the velvet antler experts. They do not harm or kill any animals to produce their products. They use only the first inch of the antler referred to as the tips. When the antlers are trimmed, it is no different than trimming finger nails. Once collected, the tips are processed using a freeze drying method and then through an extraction process is concentrated.
It may take a few weeks for results to become noticeable. Within the first few weeks one can notice an increase in energy, health and sense of well being. Then followed by an increase in strength and endurance. Velvet antler extract also balances out all hormones in men and women. It will also stimulate the production of red blood cells which can improve oxygen and circulation and improve endurance. IGF-1 and other growth factors stimulate healing, recovery, fat loss and improve blood glucose. Pure Solutions IGF is the most potent sublingual IGF product on the market. Upon rising, 30 drops held under the tongue for 90 seconds seems to be very effective.

NPC FL STATE 2012

Come support Team DNC/KLF as Owen Lee and Mallory Rice take the stage in Orlando at the FL State August 18th!!!